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Mary Rosenblum
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Hello all, and welcome to our
Professional Connection live interview with Judith Glad.
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Judith B. Glad writes
historical and contemporary romance, but has also written and edited
technical reports and authored papers for botanical journals. She has attended
writing seminars and conferences and judged in writing contests. For the
past several years she has done freelance editing and production work for
several e-publishers. Visit her website at: http://www.judithbglad.com
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For those of you who are
struggling through your first rejections, I suggest you visit her
website...
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and click on the 'about Judith'
link. You'll discover that perseverance pays off!
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Judith has also started Uncial
Press, a new electronic publishing company.
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Uncial Press, a new eBook
publisher, will release its first titles on October 13, 2006. They will publish novels
and non-fiction eBooks in the most popular electronic formats.
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I was particularly pleased to
invite Judith here tonight, because I see the electronic and audio formats
as the new wave in publishing.
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So Judith, welcome to Long
Ridge!
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Judith B. Glad
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Thank you. I'm delighted to be
here.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I have to say I was tickled to
discover that you were a botanist with two plants named for you. I'm a fan
of Lila Leach and volunteer at the Leach Gardens.
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Judith B. Glad
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Actually I named the plants.
Botanical nomenclature is a strange and wondrous thing, complicated.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Yes, it is. J
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geezer
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I volunteer at the Rancho
Cucamonga Botanical Gardens!
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Judith B. Glad
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Wonderful. I've seen photos.
Love to visit someday.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I really have been suggesting
to various students and LR regulars that they visit your site and read
about your early years in writing.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You began in SF, had a lot of
stories and novels rejected. What kept you writing? Why didn't you just
give up?
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Judith B. Glad
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I couldn't seem to give up
entirely. But for a long time, I wrote only non-fiction.
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Mary Rosenblum
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How many books have you had
published at this point?
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Judith B. Glad
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Fourteen. I think. One is
being re-released next week. I hope.
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There have been some technical
problems so its release was delayed.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I think I'm going to make your
website required reading for my students. J What
originally drew you to electronic publishing?
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Judith B. Glad
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To tell the truth,
desperation. I'd collected 23 rejections
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with The Queen of Cherry Vale,
and it was try e-publishing
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or give up again--and I didn’t'
want to do that.
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sallyk
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What inspired you to start
Uncial Press?
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Judith B. Glad
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My daughter, and partner,
Star. She has been saying ...
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Why don’t we start our
own press and publish the books
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we both like, and I finally
agreed. We've both seen good books
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get rejected because publishers
don't have the freedom
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to publish experimental books,
or books written 'outside the lines.'
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Mary Rosenblum
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I have to say that I see the
'cutting edge' of the fiction universe in the small press and Ebook
publishers. I don't think the large traditional publishers
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can afford to take risks
anymore, chained as they are to a corporate bottom line.
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Judith B. Glad
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I agree. When you consider the
enormous investment
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a paper publisher has in a
book, you can sort of sympathize.
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Whereas an Epublisher's
investment is less, because we don’t need the printers
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the warehouses, the
distribution system, etc. etc. etc.
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geezer
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Forgive an old geezer, but how
does you access an e-book? Special software?
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Judith B. Glad
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Nope. You can use the same
browser you're using right now....most independent Epublishers sell
straight html Ebooks
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as well as those formatted for
PDAs, for special reading devices, and also for Adobe Reader which reads
PDF files.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I gather a couple of 'hand held
readers' have been developed, but I haven't see them on the market much.
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I do know people who use their PDAs
to read.
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Have you thought about trying
audio format for IPODs or MP3 players as well?
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Judith B. Glad
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I carry mine in my purse,
loaded with more than 50 books
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so I never run out of reading
material. Great for traffic jams
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and on the bus, waiting rooms,
wherever.
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Audio formats are tempting,
but according to my son-in-law, who is
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our technical advisor, we haven’t'
the equipment. It's a big investment.
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geezer
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What will the libraries of the
future be like?"
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Mary Rosenblum
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Good question...what do you
think, Judith? Your internet connection?
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Judith B. Glad
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Not a lot different from
today's; Alexandria contained scrolls
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and possibly cuneform tablets.
Tomorrows will contain
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some currently unimagined
medium containing the books
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we read now on PDAs or on
paper.
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sol
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How did you get into freelance
editing?
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Judith B. Glad
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Yes, my internet connection,
too. Already I access my local
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library from this computer.
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I needed a way to make some money,
and I had done technical editing, so I contacted some publishers.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Were you editing fiction or
nonfiction?
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Or both?
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Judith B. Glad
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The technical editing was non-fiction.
Since then I've edited mostly fiction.
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Mary Rosenblum
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As editor speaking to novice
writers in our audience, what do you as editor see as the most common
problems in submissions?
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Judith B. Glad
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Sloppiness. No using the spell
checker, not making sure your paragraph
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breaks are where they should
be, not proof-reading carefully.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Taking notes, folks?
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sallyk
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How do you see Epublishing benefiting
writers, besides new markets?
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Judith B. Glad
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I'd like to add that some
writers seem to think that a publisher should be willing to spend a lot of
time cleaning up
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a good story, but the reality
of the matter is, we can't . Our days are full.
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I think Epublishing will let
writers feel more free to tell the stories in their hearts
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without worrying so much about
the commercial aspect. HOWEVER (deliberate emphasis)
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that doesn’t mean you
shouldn't write to an audience. If no one buys your book
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how do you measure its
success?
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Mary Rosenblum
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In other words, write a good
book. Yes?
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Judith B. Glad
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Absolutely. Write a book that
appeals to the minds and the hearts of readers
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and even if it's not a
best-seller, you'll have the satisfaction
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of getting letters from
readers whose lives you've touched.
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tarsus
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I got here late so my apologies
if this has already been asked. I read over the author contract in Uncial
Press this morning. It seems straightforward. Is this the type of Ezine
contracts writers should look for? Be ware of others?
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Mary Rosenblum
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I was impressed with your
contract, Judith. Many small press/new publisher contracts are awful.
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Judith B. Glad
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Our contract is based on the
model contract developed
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by EPIC, an association of e-pubbed
writers. You can go to their
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website and read their
comments on what to watch for.
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www.epicauthors.org .
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Mary Rosenblum
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Thank you, Judith.
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ken baker
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Do you think e-books are on the
same par as paper books in terms of reaching numbers of readers?
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Mary Rosenblum
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What do you say, Judith?
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Judith B. Glad
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Not yet, but we're getting
there. I apologize for not coming armed with statistics
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but I can tell you that each
year since 2000, the percentage of
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Ebooks to paper has increased
dramatically.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I want to put in my two cents
worth here...since this is a topic that comes up frequently among SF
writers at conferences.
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Compared to NY publishers,
Ebooks don't sell that well...BUT...the trend is to a proliferation of
small, POD publishers and compared to their sales
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Ebook sales are catching up
quite nicely.
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Who are your Ebook buyers,
Judith? Do you have a sense of the demographics?
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Judith B. Glad
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And more and more NY
publishers are selling Ebooks, too. I bought one just the other day, the
same as a book on the local newsstand, but an e-copy.
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Since I write romances mostly,
my readers are women.
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All ages, if my fan mail is
any indication
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living all over the world. I
received an email recently
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from some country in the
middle east.
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Mary Rosenblum
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That's very cool. :-) How are
your Ebooks distributed?
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Judith B. Glad
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My publishers sell through
their website, as well as having
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contracts with major online
distributors like Fictionwise
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Mobipocket, and eBooks.com
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ken baker
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Through Fictionwise, Whiskey
creek Press and Wings Press
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Mary Rosenblum
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Some other distributors.
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acook
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I don't usually buy hardcover
books so I have purchased Ebooks in order to read something I just couldn't
wait for the paperback for.
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Judith B. Glad
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Good for you. I still buy an
occasional paperback
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but haven’t room on my
shelves for any more hardbound books.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You have the price issue, too.
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A hardcover book
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is 24$
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ken baker
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As an author myself, I think the
person who get established in electronic circles early will be one up when
the e-book phase erupts. What is your opinion?
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Judith B. Glad
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I wish I could agree with you,
but unfortunately some
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early writers are dropping
out. Marketing is getting more
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demanding and competition is
stiffer. But some of us will stay the course.
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ken baker
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Do you think the quality of
e-books have improved over what was put out in the past?
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Judith B. Glad
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Yes. Some truly awful books
were published early on.
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But then some truly awful
books are published even now
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and not just in electronic
format. Over all, publishers are
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editing more stringently and
readers are demanding better stories
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all of which is helping the
industry mature.
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ken baker
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I am in this for the long haul.
I don't expect a lot of return from my stories for the next 10 years. When
do you think e-books will make an impact on the market?
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Judith B. Glad
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They already are. If they
weren't, I wouldn’t be able to buy
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big name authors' books for my
Palm. The big boys are beginning
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to see that Ebooks are a
viable market segment.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I will tell you right now, that
quite a few NY published professional authors, at least in my field, are
looking seriously at Epublishing...fed up with NY practices.
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Judith B. Glad
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I can't blame them. The
royalty structure alone is enough
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to convince me to stay with
Ebooks, even if I weren't
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convinced they are where I
belong.
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ken baker
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I should have asked, how long do
you think it will be before major pubs and e-pubs are on an equal footing?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Good question. I think that
depends on the buying public...what do you think, Judith?
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Judith B. Glad
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Never. Small presses have
never been on an equal footing with the biggies.
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It's really depressing to say
that, but it's true. They are the
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300 lb gorillas, and we're the
mice nipping at their toes.
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acook
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Do books that are Epublished
ever come out in print?
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Judith B. Glad
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Oh, yes. Many Epublishers also
publish trade paperbacks
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using one of the POD companies
or short print run presses.
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Most of my books are also
available in print, but it's really
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difficult to get them into
bookstores because of the distribution
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structure. The big pubs have
that pretty well dominated.
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Mary Rosenblum
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But don't ebooks lend
themselves to mail/internet ordering? Your shipping cost is much lower.
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More people seem to be using
amazon.com before a trip to Barnes and Noble these days.
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Judith B. Glad
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That's our advantage. As
people learn that internet purchasing
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is safe, more will do that.
There are still those, like a friend of mine
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who refuse to buy anything on
the internet, though.
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Mary Rosenblum
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That's changing. And 3.50 per
gallon gas is helping that change some, too. :-)
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Judith B. Glad
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Yes, isn't it?
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sol
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So you believe the demand for
the hard copy will always be greater?
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Judith B. Glad
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No, but it's not going to
happen tomorrow. My grandchildren
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will find using paper
unimaginable. But it's going to take a generation
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to get people past the
"nothing like a REAL book."
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ken baker
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Personally I think it will take
a generation or at least until the young computer literate people grow up.
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Judith B. Glad
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Yes. There simply aren't
enough of us old geeks to make a difference.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I'm betting a bit sooner. We
can all meet here in thirty years and see who's right. :-)
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sol
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LOL
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speckledorf
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What are you looking for to
publish with Uncial and what do you not want to see? Any topic of special
interest nonfic wise?
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Judith B. Glad
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I'm betting on ten years. I
see people on the train reading on PDAs now
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and Smartphones will accept Mobipocket
format.
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We want to publish great
stories, and we're not particular what genre
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except we won't do horror, and
we will stay away from
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erotica, which is a
specialized market. We're also looking for
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good non-fiction: humor,
how-to, and we'd love to discover the next Garrison Keiler.
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ken baker
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Why not horror?
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Judith B. Glad
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Keeps us awake. We have
nothing against it, except that we don't like to read it.
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How can you edit a book that
gives you nightmares?
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Mary Rosenblum
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I'm chucking. Here is one marvelous
benefit of starting your own publishing house. You get to publish what YOU
want to read.
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sol
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So, in the e-publishing world,
agents are not a necessity?
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Judith B. Glad
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Well, of course, Mary.
Doesn’t' everyone? When you sift
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through the submissions, you
don't pick out the books you hate.
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Agents are totally unnecessary
in Epublishing, at least with the small pubs.
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And most agents won't deal
with us because we don't pay advances.
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Mary Rosenblum
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That's true of nearly all the
small presses, no matter what medium they use.
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speckledorf
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How open are you to minor
changes in the contract?
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Judith B. Glad
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We’d have to deal with
that on a case by case basis.
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I can't really answer that
without knowing more.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I got this comment earlier, Judith,
but it's an example of one issue...
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paminnapa
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I too buy paperbacks..nothing
like the smell of new book in a relaxing bath:)
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Mary Rosenblum
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How flexible is the electronic
medium? Hiking? Bathtub? Rainy day at soccer practice?
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Judith B. Glad
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Nothing like the soggy book
when you drop it...
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Mary Rosenblum
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But a PDA costs more. :-)
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Judith B. Glad
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I put my Palm in a plastic bag
and it floats.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Oh, cool!
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Brave you!
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Judith B. Glad
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It's not something I'd
recommend, I have to admit, but
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I was desperate.
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geezer
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Do you do any marketing?
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Judith B. Glad
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Back to the "PDA costs
more. My Palm cost. How many
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paperbacks at 7$ each is
that--30? I've got more than 50 books on it
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and quite a few were free,
from Project Gutenberg.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Oh , believe me, the idea of
lugging my reading list around without breaking my back is a delight!
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Judith B. Glad
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WE traveled across the US a few years ago,
and carried
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one suitcase full of books.
Now we could do that with two
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e-readers and my palm.
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sol
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Gotta get me one of those!
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Mary Rosenblum
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It does sound good. Don't
forget the plastic bag.
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Judith B. Glad
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Look around. There are several
readers available.
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ken baker
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Do you think it is easier
working with e-publishers compared to publishers as a whole?
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Judith B. Glad
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Yes, because they are often
small companies and can give an author personal attention.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Any small press publisher...a
legitimate one...will be much more personal and easier to work with than a
NY house.
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Sweeping generalization, yes,
but pretty accurate.
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acook
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What is your website?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Judith's Web Page
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Uncial Press
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foxx
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Is there a good tutorial on
E-Publishing from writing to reading? Much of this is lost to me.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Foxx, I actually have an
article up on the website...a how to publish your own Ebook.
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There's free software out there
to do it.
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Judith’s website is very
good, too.
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As the palms or PDAs they're
about the size of a small notebook...a lot of people really depend on them
for notes, calendars...and books.
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speckledorf
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You can also publish with
fictionwise.com. They do all the work and post to their website. Last time
I checked it was reasonable.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Fictionwise is a very respected
market and gaining a lot of visibility.
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Judith B. Glad
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I was under the impression
that fictionwise only took
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previously published books. I
have one there, and that's
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what they told me when I
queried them about it.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I'm not sure about that,
Judith. That used to be true.
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speckledorf
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When I was doing the Ezine, I
just had to set myself up as a "publisher". I don't know for sure
about books but I figured it was the same way.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It may still be reprint
only...it's easy to check, I'm sure it's on their website.
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Judith B. Glad
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It would be nice if they were
a market. A wide choice
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of places to submit is a Good
Thing.
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sol
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How to you pronounce Uncial?
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Judith B. Glad
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Un-see-ahl, or un-shall. We're
not fussy. The dictionary agrees.
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Mary Rosenblum
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No Fictionwise still won't
accept original work. They're taking only previously published work.
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sol
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Thank you.
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Mary Rosenblum
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So why Uncial? How did you come
by the name?
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Judith B. Glad
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We wanted a name that was
related to books/writing/storytelling
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and one where we could get
both .com and .net. That's difficult.
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Every variation of Glad we
tried was taken, so we tossed ideas
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until someone said Uncial, and
we knew it was right.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Tell us about your first
releases. They'll be out in October, right? What is up first?
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Judith B. Glad
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Our first release is actually
a re-release. The Rake's Reflection
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by Lesley-Anne McLeod. Along
with that will be a mystery that we're keeping a mystery for a while.
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Mary Rosenblum
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How many titles do you plan to
release in a year?
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Judith B. Glad
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That's a difficult question.
We'd like to release 24, but we won't unless we (1)
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get that many really excellent
submissions, and (2) can do them justice in the editing
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process. We don’t' want
to shortchange either our readers
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or our authors. We'd also like
to release a few shorter
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works, and will be asking
people to help us choose a name for that
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zine. Check our website in
early August.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Oh, I'm always happy to see a
new short fiction market open up!
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Judith B. Glad
|
So are we. It seems to me that
people today have time for short reads, but not as much for
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longer books. So we want to
give them something worth reading.
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Mary Rosenblum
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How long does it usually take
you to edit a novel length work, Judith?
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Judith B. Glad
|
Days. 40 hours, perhaps. I
usually read it at least twice
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sometimes thrice, with he
authors making changed between.
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ken baker
|
Doesn’t the editing depend
on the quality of the writing and story line?
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Judith B. Glad
|
Oh, yes. But even the best
book can do with tweaking.
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That takes me a lot of time is
reading so slowly. I am so afraid
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I'll miss something important
that I crawl along.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
What do you look for in a new
submission? What makes a story stand out for you?
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Judith B. Glad
|
Does it catch and hold my
attention. Do I want to keep reading, even though
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I intended to take just a
peek? Does it touch my emotions?
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Do the characters come alive?
I'm afraid I'm a very emotional reader
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and I truly believe that the
best books appeal emotionally
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as well as intellectually.
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sol
|
Uncial sounds like a wonderful
place to submit . . . encouraging!
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Are you getting a lot of submissions?
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Judith B. Glad
|
We'd like to think so. We'll
do our best to give an honest answer to every query/submission
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|
and a gentle rejection if we
must reject. I know how they hurt.
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|
Submissions have not been as
good as we'd hoped, but it's summer, and they do tend to be slower then.
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On the other hand, what we've
received has been extremely good
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so we're actually ahead of the
game.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Potential submitters can find
the guidelines on your website, I assume. :-) Do you want queries? Or more
than that?
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Judith B. Glad
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Our guidelines are really
loose, and yes, they are on the website.
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We'll accept full manuscripts,
but won't promise to read them
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unless they capture us in the
first few pages. That's harsh
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but it's what every
submissions editor does, whether they admit it or not
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and if we do like it, then we don’t'
have to ask for more. It's not
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Mary Rosenblum
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submission guidelines
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Judith B. Glad
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like with a paper ms, where
there's a cost to sending the whole thing.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I don't think any editor ever
reads past the first page where he/she loses interest. None I know anyway.
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Judith B. Glad
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Thank you Mary! It's not soemthign
we like to hear, but it's the truth.
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sol
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Well, I can appreciate that when
there's usually LOADS to examine.
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Mary Rosenblum
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OH yeah...the office of an
editor stacked with paper slush is pretty impressive. :-)
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Judith B. Glad
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And even if there's not loads
of submissions, there are
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books to edit, covers to do,
review copies to send out
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promo to do, and life to live.
That’s important too.
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ken baker
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Will an established author with
several books have an advantage?
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Judith B. Glad
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No. The writer who will have
an advantage is the one who tells a
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story so good we can't put it
down.
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ken baker
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Do you think e-pubs have opened
up the way for a new breed of authors?
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Mary Rosenblum
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What do you think, Judith?
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Judith B. Glad
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Yes, I think so, although I
can't say exactly how. I do know
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that a lot of people might
never have been published if not for
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the many new e-pubs who've
taken the leap--as we have-
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into he publishing arena. And
those publishers have attracted people with a different vision
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of where they want their books
to be sold. I'm not talking about the ones
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who see e-books as a doorway
to paper, but those who
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see them as the future.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Well this has been a very
interesting conversation, Judith, and I'm so pleased that you were able to
join us.
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Before you leave...and I know
you have guests...want to end this with a piece of advice for our writers
in the audience?
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Judith B. Glad
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It was a wonderful experience.
Challenging, too. Advice...
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write from the heart as well
as from the head, and never forget that your story is a link between you
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and your reader. It's not just
YOUR story, but at some point
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it becomes OUR story. And
that's when you'll know you've
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done your job well.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Excellent advice, Judith. Thank
you so much for joining us tonight.
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foxx
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Excellent forum. Thanx!! The
more I learn, the more I learn that I need to learn more.
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sol
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Yes, Judith. Thank you for all
this great info.
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Mary Rosenblum
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We'll let you escape to your
guests now! I hope you'll come back again and join us another time.
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sallyk
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Thanks Judith and Mary.
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grayalien
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Thank you Judith. Thanks Mary.
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Judith B. Glad
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I would love to. This was fun!
Bye. And thanks, all of you, for being such a great audience.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Bye! Good luck with your
launch!
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And thank you all for coming,
tonight!
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Good night all!
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